Recorded on vintage equipment in single takes,
Nick Curran keeps things simple and swinging on his solo debut. Having played
rockabilly with
Kim Lenz set
Curran's retro-twang cred in stone and the long-time
blues aficionado strikes out on his own with the revelatory Fixin' Your Head. With a deep, ringing voice not unlike
Amos Milburn or
Lloyd Price, and a wide-open
T-Bone Walker guitar style,
Curran utterly embodies that period of time during the late '40s and early '50s just before the
blues became
rock & roll.
Curran's impressive mix of lesser known cover tunes and originals -- the up-tempo "She's Mine" especially -- oozes with a genuine pomade and chicken wings mentality. More studied than
punk, yet grittier than most contemporary
blues releases,
Curran has achieved an almost unimaginable "take no prisoners" aesthetic of retro-style absoluteness and modern
blues urgency. ~ Matt Collar, All Music Guide
